The present invention relates to a system and method for automated self-measurement of alertness, equilibrium and coordination.
An individual""s alertness before many operations may be critical to the efficiency and safety of the requirements. This is especially important in performing tasks, such as driving, flying an airplane, and sensitive or dangerous tasks. In addition, it is useful for employees carrying normal and relatively safe work and in other situations where an individual""s alertness should be evaluated.
Employees under the influence of alcohol and drugs directly and indirectly cause damages to workplaces. In the USA it is estimated that the damages are in excess of $150 billion a year. Research has shown that when an employer carries out drugs and alcohol testing, then drug and alcohol usage is reduced to one fifth.
Currently there is a lack of automated systems that can simplify the process of detecting drugs and alcohol abuse. Furthermore, currently there is no simple way of detecting drugs and alcohol abuse without continuous and consistent testing.
Other examples where early detection is useful include prior to participating in sports, the detection of tiredness of drivers prior to long-distance journey and the detection of students whose behavior and lack of alertness indicates alcohol or drug abuse.
In many organizations, personnel are required to take tests, such as hearing and visual acuity tests, in order to meet certain regulations. In addition, these personnel are required to be tutored for safety regulations (e.g. fire regulations) or quality control regulations imposed by quality control standards, such as the ISO standard.
These assignments typically require enormous human resources in order to manage the summoning, testing, tutoring, analysis of the test results and re-summoning of the personnel in accordance with specific regulations.
One way to reduce the human resources required for these assignments is to conduct testing such that the person taking the test is self tested without additional human attendance. Such self testing systems are known in the art. For example, when performing vision tests, a testing apparatus is used which is operated by an operator who identifies the tested person, explains how to use the apparatus, administers the test, and records the test results. This procedure is time consuming, requires highly trained operators and is therefore expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,072 to Griffin et al describes a vision testing apparatus which is operated by an operator for administering a variety of visual performance tests to a test subject. The operator of the vision testing apparatus manually operates various buttons and levers on the testing apparatus and to present a series of test slides to the test subject. The operator also has to ask the test subject various questions and to manually record the answers either on an appropriate form or alternatively initiate storage of the test results on a computer connected to the vision testing apparatus. Thus, even with computerized data storage of the test results, a qualified, trained operator must perform a substantial amount of manual operations and must verbally instruct the test subject, which is time consuming and expensive.
In a related PCT application WO98/02083 to the present inventors and incorporated herein by reference, a method and a system for automatic management of summoning, identifying, self-testing and/or self tutoring of subjects is disclosed. The method of self-tutoring can include video units, multi-media software, remote control tutoring as in telemedicine. This self-tutoring prior to self testing is applicable, for example, to visual acuity tests, intraoccular pressure visual fields, pregnancy follow-ups, spirometry, Blood pressure ECG,xe2x80x9d self-blood tests and response time. A medical condition sensing system, detailing some of the sensors, such as virtual reality glasses for visual acuity, twelve-lead ECG and spirometry are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/428,430 assigned to the present applicants, and incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention describes a system for automated self-measurement of alertness, equilibrium and coordination. The system includes an alert meter which can be used for self-tutoring and testing of various parameters, as described above.
The system using the alert meter checks individual""s response speed, coordination, and the equilibrium as parameters of alertness. Alertness can be influenced by various causes: extreme tiredness, life crisis, toxic substance, alcohol, drugs (opiates) or medication. People who are not alert can fail or err in performing various tasks. The system can detect these individuals before performing the tasks and if necessary, indicate that further evaluation (i.e. alcohol levels in blood or exhale air, drug level in blood or urine) be undertaken.
The system of the present invention instructs and guides the individual, performs a series of tests, interprets the results, files and exports the results at will. The system has an option to automatically summon and/or identify the individual.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a system and method for self-tutoring and testing a person. The system includes an identifying unit for identifying the person to be tested, at least one self-tutoring unit for instructing the person in at least one test to be performed, at least one testing unit for performing each of the at least one tests and an interpretation unit for evaluating the results of each of the at least one tests.
There is also provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a system and method for identifying a person being tested. The system includes an identifying unit for identifying the person to be tested, at least one testing unit for performing at least one identification test, an interpretation unit for evaluating the results of the at least one test, a storage unit for storing the results and a comparison unit for comparing the results from the interpretation unit with results previously stored in the storage unit.
In addition, there is provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for continuously verifying the identity of a person performing a task. The method includes the steps of:
creating and storing an initial profile of personal characteristics associated with the person, prior to performing the task;
continuously performing at least one identification test at random intervals while the person performs the task;
storing the results of each of the randomly performed at least one identification test; and
comparing the results of each of the randomly performed at least one identification test with the initial profile and with the previous randomly performed tests after each randomly performed at least one identification test.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the test comprises one of a group of tests including a person""s alertness, steadiness, co-ordination and response time.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, if the results of the automatic comparison match the identification test with the initial profile, the method further includes the step of allowing the person to perform the task.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of
comparing the initial profile of personal characteristics with a database of personal characteristics of a group of persons to ascertain the identity of the person. The profile includes at least one of a set of parameters including voice recognition patterns, iris patterns and photographic images.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of storing the results.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of evaluating the tests in relation to the stored results. The step of evaluating is operable in real time or off-line.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the step of evaluating includes the step of determining whether a person is under the influence of external substances or stimulants.
Additionally, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the step of evaluating includes evaluating the results of the tests individually and/or in any combination of tests.
In addition, there is provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for automatically summoning and automatically verifying the identity of the person being summoned. The method includes the steps of:
constructing a profile database of parameters associated with a group of persons;
preparing a schedule for summoning at least one person from the group;
at the scheduled time, automatically performing at least one identification test;
verifying the results of the at least one identification test to determine the identity of the person attending at the scheduled time.
If the identification profile details of the person attending match the identification profile details of the person for the scheduled time, the operations scheduled for the person being summoned can be performed.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of evaluating the results of the performing the operations.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein if the identification details of the person attending do not match the identification details of the person for the scheduled time but match the identification details of another one of the group of persons, the operations scheduled for the person being summoned can be performed; or a further appointment for the identified person can be scheduled.
In addition, there is provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for continuously verifying the identity of a person performing a task. The method includes the steps of:
creating and storing an initial profile of personal characteristics associated with the person prior to performing the task;
performing at least one identification test at random intervals while the person performs the task;
storing the results of each of the randomly performed at least one identification test; and
comparing the results of each of the randomly performed at least one identification test with the initial profile at the completion of the task.
The profile includes at least one of a set of parameters including voice recognition patterns, iris patterns and photographic images.
Finally, there is provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for validating a person""s comprehension of a document, the method comprising the steps of:
requesting the person to read the document;
randomly asking at least one question, from a group of questions, related to the document; and
analyzing the answer to the at least one question.
The method may further include the steps of:
requesting the person to re-read the document; and
repeating the steps of randomly asking at least one question and analyzing the answer to the question until the person""s response indicates comprehension of the document.